


Communications

by soprano_squad



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Enjolras is an exchange student, F/M, M/M, Multi, maybe more relationships to come but I haven't decided yet, not the main focus of the story tho, trans boy Enjolras
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-04
Updated: 2015-06-26
Packaged: 2018-03-21 04:01:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3676599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soprano_squad/pseuds/soprano_squad
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Enjolras and Grantaire are brought together for a school project things get interesting.<br/>---<br/>High school AU where Enjolras is an exchange student from France living in Washington D.C. along with Bahorel, Cosette, Valjean, Joly, Feuilly, and Combeferre.<br/>Grantaire lives in California along with Eponine, Marius, Musichetta, Bossuet, Jehan, Javert, and Courfeyrac.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

“Okay, class, before you all go I need to talk to you about your final semester project.”

There was a collective groan.

Valjean sighed. “Yes, I know. Everyone hates projects, especially so close to the end of the school year and since most of you are seniors who just want to get out of here but this project will actually teach you real life communication and commitment skills.”

There was an even louder groan.

“Before you complain just let me explain it. This project is actually very fun, I promise.”

“That’s just something old people like you say about things that are completely uncool,” Montparnasse said from his seat in the back of the class. There were scattered chuckles from around the room at this.

Enjolras rolled his eyes. Some people could be so disrespectful.

“Yes, Montparnasse. I’m sure you can relate to that on a personal level, being twenty years old and still in high school.”

Montparnasse slumped back in his chair as Enjolras smirked and the rest of the class laughed.

“Anyway,” Valjean continued, “I have a friend in California who is also a communications teacher. I will be randomly pairing each of you with a student in his class and the two of you will have to exchange emails at least four times a week for the rest of the school year. This will teach communication skills as well as commitment because you really have to stick with this project. I’m going to pass out the email addresses you all are assigned to. I expect your first email to be sent tonight.”

Enjolras sat up in his chair. Now _this_ sounded interesting. It would be easy for him to get an A on this and bring his grade up.

Enjolras had terribly misjudged how difficult this class would be when he had signed up for it. He only did so because he needed the credits and thought it would be easy since Valjean was teaching it. You see, Enjolras had lived in France with his parents until he was 15. When he was offered the opportunity to finish his school in America as an exchange student, he was ecstatic. Even more so to find out that he would be living in the nation’s capital, Washington D.C. His parents were reluctant until they video chatted with the old man and his adopted daughter, who was only a year younger than Enjolras, that would be hosting Enjolras. They immediately felt safer knowing their son would be in good hands. Enjolras took English lessons all summer and then finally said goodbye to his life in France to start his, what the Americans call, _sophomore_ year in high school.

Enjolras had bonded almost instantly with Valjean and Cosette and easily made friends at school. Within a couple months he was speaking English fluently and even got involved in local political activist groups along with his closest friends, Combeferre, Bahorel, Joly, and Feuilly.

Enjolras was drawn back to the present when the bell rang signifying the end of school.  He looked down at his desk where a small slip of paper sat. _bigr-artist@gmail.com_ Enjolras shoved the paper in his pocket and proceeded to packed up his books before setting out to meet Cosette outside to go home. Since Valjean had to stay at school for at least an hour every day after the day was over, and Cosette and Enjolras usually had things to do, they would come in two separate cars to school. This particular day, however, neither Enjolras nor Cosette had to be anywhere so they were planning on going straight home.

As he stepped outside, he saw Cosette in their usual meeting spot talking to Combeferre. He walked over to them and when she saw him, she politely excused herself from the conversation to meet him.

“Hey! How was your day?” She asked as they started walking together towards the student parking lot.

“Pretty good. What were you talking to ‘Ferre about?”

“Well I was waiting here for you and I guess he just saw me alone and decided to come talk to me. It was kind of awkward though… I could tell he didn’t know what to say because he started telling me about his internet boyfriend or something.”

“Oh yeah, Courfeyrac. He talks about him a lot. I think they met on tumblr and he lives somewhere in California… I don’t remember all the details.”

“Hmm,” Cosette said as they got to their car. “Can I drive today?”

“Sure, go ahead,” Enjolras said as he walked around to the passenger side and Cosette climbed in the drivers’ seat.

Other than the noises of other cars and the radio, the drive was silent. Enjolras reached into his pocket to get his phone when he also felt the slip of paper from earlier. Well, might as well go ahead and get some of his homework done.

He opened up a new email on his phone and began to type.

+

Grantaire was sitting in study hall on his computer, not studying and playing online poker with Courfeyrac who was sitting across the room, when his phone buzzed from his pocket. Luckily the only one who heard was his friend Eponine who was sitting next to him and glanced over at the sound. When she realized it was just his phone she went back to writing “Marius” and “Eponine Pontmercy” in her notebook.

Grantaire sighed. She could do much better than Marius. The poor man didn’t even realize Eponine liked him even after the countless hints she had dropped. Eponine could literally flat out tell him she loved him and he still wouldn’t know.

Remembering his phone, he quickly checked to make sure the teacher wasn’t looking as he pulled it out of his pocket and hid it behind his laptop screen. It was an email from an unknown address. Grantaire squinted to read the small print. _frenchenjolras@gmail.com_ Hm.

He opened it up.

_Hello!_

_My name is Enjolras and I have been assigned to be your pen-pal for the next month!_

Oh, right. Grantaire had forgotten about this assignment that Javert had given them yesterday, saying they should receive an email any day now. Well. Here it was. He kept reading.

_I guess I should share a little bit about me! Well I am from France but I’ve been living here in Washington D.C. as an exchange student for about three years now. I live with a man who teaches at my school (he’s the teacher that gave me this assignment actually!) and his daughter who is a junior. I am a senior here and some of my hobbies include anything political and historical! I look forward to hearing back from you!_

_-Enjolras_

Damn for such a short email he sure did use a lot of exclamation points.

Grantaire wrote a quick reply.

_Hey my name’s Grantaire but you can call me R and I like art and stuff_

After pressing send, he put his phone back in his pocket and then logged onto his email on his laptop to check out Enjolras’ Google+ page. He clicked on the email address and as soon as the page loaded his heart stopped.

“Oh fuck he’s hot,” Grantaire whispered.

Eponine heard this and didn’t even lift her head as she said, “R you are so gay.”

“Guilty as charged.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Better look into the lives of Grantaire and the California crew.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So if you haven't noticed yet I've divided characters between two locations: Washington D.C. and California (I haven't decided exactly where in California though).  
> That being said there is a 3 hour time difference between these two locations so that's why in chapter 1 Enjolras is just getting out of school and in this chapter Grantaire is just getting out of school.
> 
> Also I wrote the first half of this on mobile so the spacing is a bit different from the second half.

Later that afternoon, the bell rang signifying the end of the school day. Courfeyrac closed his notebook and slung his bag over his shoulder and set out to meet his friends in their usual meeting spot.

  
When he finally arrived at the picnic table on the outer edge of the student lunch area, Jehan was already there, weaving together a flower crown, with Bossuet who was running his fingers through Musichetta's hair while she played on her phone.

  
"Hey guys!" Courfeyrac said as he dropped his bag on an empty bench of the four sided table and sat down.

  
"Well someone's in a good mood," Musichetta mused, looking up from her phone.

  
Courfeyrac sighed and blushed. "Yeah…"

  
This caused Jehan to look up from his flower crown. "I know that sigh! Courf's in love!"

  
"Um," Bossuet began, "didn't we already know that?"

  
"Oh… right," Jehan remembered.

  
"Yeah, what was his name again...?" Musichetta chimed in. "His name was like... Hamster… no… Rabbit?"

  
Courfeyrac opened his mouth to correct her but she held up her hand.

  
"No wait I know this… Guinea Pig?? OH- FERRET!! Yes! It was Ferret!"

  
Jehan pointed at her and nodded.

  
"Oh right! Yeah I remember that," Bossuet said.

  
"No!" Courfeyrac corrected. "It's 'Ferre! But that's just his nickname though- his name is Combeferre… and the reason we're talking about this is because I was just skyping him during last period and I just- ugh he's just-" Courfeyrac sighed and smiled. "He's so perfect…"

  
"Awww you two are so cute," Jehan said. "I can't wait to meet him one day."

  
"Yeah..." Courfeyrac began. "Me too."

  
Musichetta snorted.

  
"Yeah doesn't he like live in Idaho?" Bossuet asked.

  
"Close. Washington D.C."

  
"Ah."

  
"What? How is that close?" Musichetta asked.

  
"Well he was probably thinking of Washington State which is close to Idaho," Courfeyrac supplied.

  
"Right. Yes," Bossuet agreed. "That's what I was thinking."

  
Musichetta laughed as she kissed Bossuet on the head. "You're so lame."

  
Just then, Marius and Eponine walked up to the table and took their seats at the remaining of the four benches.

  
"Hey girl!" Musichetta said to Eponine.

  
"Wow you're unusually preppy today," Eponine remarked.

  
"Musichetta?" Bossuet said. "Preppy? Ha!"

  
Musichetta laughed and elbowed him in the ribs. "Shut up. I have spirit… sometimes."

  
"So…" Marius said, trying to join the conversation. "What were you guys talking about?"

  
"Courf's love life," Jehan informed him.

 

"Oh..."

  
There was a period of silence as no one really knew where to go with the conversation. Luckily, a new point of interest was running down the sidewalk towards them.

  
"GUYS" Grantaire said, panting, as he approached the table. "Look at this."

  
He handed his phone to Eponine. She looked at it and then said, "Oh, is this the guy you were emailing in study hall?"

  
"Oh right you've already seen him," Grantaire said as he took his phone from her and passed it to Bossuet and Musichetta.

  
They both leaned in towards the screen and squinted to see in the sunlight. After a couple seconds, Musichetta asked, "...what exactly are we looking at?"

  
Grantaire's eyes bulged as he took a seat next to Courfeyrac. "Seriously?? You're looking at his gorgeous face!! At his beautiful golden curls and pale skin! You're looking at the god Apollo himself even!"

  
Musichetta just looked at him. "...right."

  
"I wanna see!" Jehan said and Musichetta passed the phone over.

  
"I didn't get to see..." Marius whined.

  
"Then get up and come here, child!" Jehan insisted.

  
"I wanna see too!" Courfeyrac said as he and Marius got up and went to stand behind Jehan.

  
The three of them looked at the picture of Enjolras that Grantaire had taken from his Google+ page.

  
"…Well?" Grantaire asked.

  
"He's very handsome!" Jehan said.

  
"Yeah he looks nice!" Courfeyrac commented.

  
They both looked at Marius.

  
"Um… his hair is… good..."

  
"Oh Marius... oh young Marius. You are so straight." Jehan said.

  
"Hey- we're in the same grade," Marius tried to defend.

  
The whole table chuckled and Marius dejectedly went to sit back down.

  
"So who is he?" Musichetta asked as she pulled her water bottle from her bag and took a sip.

  
"He's the pen pal I've been assigned for Javert's class. He emailed me today and seemed super lame but then I looked at some of his pictures," Grantaire answered. "He's also French."

  
Courfeyrac smirked. "Ooh la la."

  
"Wait-" Marius piped up. "I thought you told us all the pen pals were going to be from Javert's friend's class in D.C."

  
"D.C.! That's where Combeferre lives!" Courfeyrac chimed in.

  
"Yeah they do live there. He's an exchange student."

  
"Wouldn't it be funny if I was in Javert's class and got matched up with Combeferre?" Courfeyrac wondered aloud, then laughed. "Actually it would be funny just taking Javert's class period."

  
They all chuckled.

  
"Yeah man," Bossuet said. "I can't believe you of all people decided to take Javert's class."

  
Grantaire shrugged. "I mean I needed the credits and he doesn't scare me."

  
Courfeyrac glanced at the time on his phone. "Oh it's already 3:30!” When no one acknowledged him he felt the need to make himself be heard. He got up from his seat and lied on his back in the middle of his table. "OH HOW THE TIME FLIES whEN YOU're in L O V E…"

  
Eponine seized this opportunity to snap a picture of Courfeyrac sprawled out on the table between them all. "That one's a keeper."  
Suddenly Courfeyrac shot up.

  
"What? Did you just take a picture?"

  
Eponine got up and put her bag over her shoulders. "Maybe..."

  
"What?!"

  
Eponine laughed as she started to walk away. "Bye guys!"

  
As the rest of the group chimed their goodbyes Courfeyrac struggled to get off the table.

  
"EPONINE THENARDIER YOU DELETE THAT PICTURE RIGHT NOW!"

  
Eponine turned back and gave him the middle finger.

+

Enjolras grimaced at his computer screen.

“ _Hey my name’s Grantaire but you can call me R and I like art and stuff_ ”

What kind of reply was that? How was he supposed to make conversation if this _Grantaire_ didn’t make any attempts?

He sighed and pulled out his phone and brought up the group message.

 **Enjolras:** my pen pal for Valjean’s class sucks

 **Feuilly:** what happened?

 **Enjolras:** it’s only the first email so far and he can’t even carry on a conversation

 **Combeferre:** can he really not carry on a conversation or were you just being too intimidating again?

 **Joly:** yeah that tends to be a thing with you

 **Enjolras:** no! I was trying to be nice

 **Bahorel:** mhm

 **Bahorel:** yep

 **Bahorel:** sure

 **Joly:** lol

 **Enjolras** : no it wasn’t my fault!

 **Combeferre:** so basically you’re pulling the “it’s not me it’s you” card rn

 **Feuilly:** yeah that’s basically what’s happening

 **Enjolras** : I came here to vent guys, honestly

 **Joly:** “I came out here to have a good time and honestly I’m feeling so attacked right now”

 **Bahorel:** haha NICE

 **Enjolras:** ok that’s it BYE

 **Feuilly:** no come back we’re sorry

 **Joly:** Enjolras

 **Joly:** …

 **Bahorel:** ???

 **Combeferre:** gents, Enjolras has left the building

Enjolras sighed and looked back to his computer screen.

He stared at the response.

He had already started writing a message about four different times but had deleted them all.

Nothing seemed right.

He finally typed out a response.

_Hey R-_

_What kind of art do you do?_

What else could he say?

He pressed send.

Frustrated, he ran his fingers through his blond curls and looked at the clock.

9:32 pm

Late enough.

Enjolras got up to go brush his teeth and then went to bed.

+

Cosette was in her room, lying on her bed watching _America’s Next Top Model_ , her pastel blue hair in rollers on top of her head and a bowl of popcorn in front of her when there was a knock at the door.

“Come in,” she said as she grabbed the remote to mute the TV.

Valjean opened the door and stepped over the threshold into Cosette’s room as she scooted over to make room for him on her bed. He came over and sat down next to her and took a bite of popcorn from the bowl.

“So what’s up?” Cosette asked.

“Well… I’ve been thinking,” he began.

“That’s never a good thing.”

Valjean chuckled. “I was thinking about what we should do for Enjolras for graduation.”

“Oh, right.”

Sensing the sudden sadness in her voice, he wrapped his arm around her. “I know we’re both going to miss him when he goes off to college but you know he’ll still write to us and visit on holidays.”

“I know but it’ll still be a lot different without him here all the time.”

“I know. We’ll both miss him very much. That’s why I want to do something special as a graduation present.”

“Hmm well honestly I don’t have any ideas right now but I’ll let you know if I can think of anything.”

“All right.” Valjean checked his watch. “It’s getting late, dear. Maybe you should go to bed soon…”

“Can I wait until this episode is over?” Cosette asked, gesturing to the TV.

“Sure, just make sure you get some sleep soon.”

She smiled. “Thanks, Papa! Good night.”

“Good night, dear.”

Valjean shut Cosette’s door behind him as he stepped into the hall. As he walked back to his own bed room, he passed Enjolras’ door which had a French flag hanging on it.

He looked at the door for a minute before smiling. It was a sad smile, but a smile nonetheless.

He would really miss this boy who had grown to be almost like a son.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A misunderstanding causes a bit of tension between Enjolras and Grantaire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if the Marius/Eponine texts at the beginning seem a little out of place but that information comes into play later!

Eponine’s phone buzzed and she pulled it out to find a text from Marius.

**Marius:** hey Ep

**Eponine:** hey. what’s up?

**Marius** : I got a job

**Marius:** I just wanted to tell someone and I thought of you first

**Eponine:** why do you need a job? your grandfather’s loaded

**Marius:** he’s made it very clear recently that if I keep up this “liberal behavior” I’d be out on the streets so I decided to save up some money just in case

**Eponine:** oh, I’m sorry

**Eponine:** so where are you working?

**Marius:** I’m going to be a cashier at Macy’s

**Eponine:** ……

**Marius:** I know, I know. Macy’s isn’t exactly a dream job but it’s a job

**Eponine:** I know and I’m not saying against it- me of all people shouldn’t be saying anything but you do realize cashiers interact with customers several times a day… right?

**Marius:** so?

**Eponine:** Marius you’re not exactly easy going around strangers

**Marius:** I know but I thought this could help me work on my people skills…

**Marius:** oh god this was a huge mistake

**Eponine:** no! I’m sure you’ll be fine! this could be good for you!

**Marius:** I hope you’re right :/

**Eponine:** trust me you’ll be fine. I BELIEVE IN YOU PONTMERCY!!!

She knew he was doomed.

+

“Ok next question,” Enjolras said.

Cosette scanned the page for the next question. “What is the declension of _arcus_?”

“Well, _arcus_ ends in a ‘us’ ending therefore it must be 2 nd declension!” Enjolras said triumphantly.

“Nope it’s 4th.”

“Dammit!” He said, hitting his hand on the desk.

Because Enjolras had spent the first two years of his schooling in America trying to learn and master English, he had put off his two year language requirement as long as he could. That was why he was now sitting in his room with Cosette during his final days as a senior studying for a Latin II exam.

“Enj you don’t need to get so mad about this. This is the third language you’re learning. English to Latin stuff is hard enough without English even being your first language,” she reassured him. “Plus you still have a couple days until the exam. Maybe you can just study a bit more for this one than the others.”

“No, I’m devoting all my time to this I can’t fail this class. I’m not studying for the others.”

“You won’t _fail_ Latin, you already have an A.”

“A low A,” Enjolras pointed out.

Cosette rolled her eyes. “I still don’t think that’s a very good decision…”

“Why not? I have almost perfect grades in all my other classes if I just skim the notes a half hour before hand I’ll be fine.”

“You have almost perfect grades because you study, Enj.” Cosette sighed. “Look I know you’re stressed out about possibly getting a _B_ in Latin but don’t ignore everything else.”

“I know what I’m doing Cosette.”

“Fine. But don’t make me say I told you so.” She pulled out her phone to check the time. “It’s late, I’m going to go to sleep.”

“Ok good night,” he said as she walked out the door.

“Night.”

He unplugged his laptop at his desk and brought it over to his bed to check his email. His new pen pal, Grantaire, and him had just recently broke out of their chain of awkward small talk and had begun a somewhat heated debate and had been emailing more frequently.

Sure enough, there was an email from Grantaire waiting for him in his inbox.

_I mean it’s not that I don’t agree with you ideals because I do, I really do. I just don’t think there can be changes so big happening anytime soon in this country._

Enjolras sighed as he hastily typed out a reply.

_Why are you so cynical about this? There is unrest about this everywhere. This is the change that needs to happen! There are way more lower and middle class anyway so we outnumber them. Why can’t you just accept that it’s possible?_

He pressed send and went to brush his teeth, hoping he’d have a reply by the time he got back.

To his joy, although he would never admit it was _joy_ …, when he walked back to his laptop five minutes later there was a new message.

_First of all: please chill_

Enjolras rolled his eyes.

_Second of all: I don’t doubt the power of the people, I doubt the will of the people._

The blond was furious. How could he have so much doubt when he obviously sees the problems of the country? He typed his short reply in a rush before shutting his laptop and going to bed.

+

Grantaire was lying on the couch, finishing up his bowl of instant mac and cheese and sipping on one of his dad’s beers from the fridge when his phone buzzed again. Grantaire knew it was probably another email from Enjolras so he pulled out his phone to read it.

_Why are you so fucking ignorant_

Who knew his Apollo was capable of being terrible? The words stung a little, especially coming from Enjolras. Grantaire knew he could get on his nerves but he had never snapped like this. He looked at the time and then looked at the time the email was sent. He concluded it was very late in DC and he was probably very tired, at lease he hoped that was the case.

Well if he didn’t mean any harm then it was okay for Grantaire to joke around with him, right?

_Does Apollo have his panties in a twist?_

He reread the email and laughed to himself before sending it and going back to his mac and cheese.

+

Enjolras was not at all pleased with the email he woke up to the next morning. In fact he was a bit alarmed to say the least.

_That was rude and uncalled for. I can’t believe you would stoop to that level_

He pressed send and went to get ready for school.

+

In the car that morning, he and Cosette were listening to Nicki Minaj on the radio. Enjolras wasn’t particularly a fan of her music but was able to tolerate it ever sense Cosette had explained that the artist was a feminist icon and a “blessing to the world.” When the song ended, he reached over to turn the volume down.

“Hey, Cosette, can I talk to you about something?”

“Sure, what’s up?”

“Well- I think-“ he sighed. “I think Grantaire somehow found out I’m trans and then he made a transphobic comment towards me.”

“What? What do you mean ‘found out’? Was it a secret? What did he say?”

“Well I didn’t think it was relevant to ever tell him since we only have to talk for a short while… Anyway he said that I had my ‘panties in a twist’ implying that I wear womens underwear implying that he thinks of me as a girl…”

Cosette laughed. “Oh, Enjolras he wasn’t being mean or transphobic! That’s just an expression! It just means you’re uptight.”

“What? English I swear to god…”

Cosette laughed more and Enjolras was suddenly relieved.

“Wait- so he thinks I’m uptight?”

“That’s exactly what he thinks.”

“What?”

“Well it’s better than what you thought it meant.”

“Yeah…” Enjolras agreed. “I guess I came across that way last night because I was tired.”

“What did you say?”

Because he was driving, Enjolras pulled out his phone and handed it to Cosette so she could read the most recent messages.

“Damn! You were salty last night Enj!”

“Salty?”

“It’s kind of like sassy.”

“I hate English.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment if you can because it gives me motivation to keep writing for you guys!


End file.
